Johnny Zee also known as Tarsame Singh Saini or “Taz” the frontman for ’90s Brit group Stereo Nation has passed away at the age of 54.
Saini who grew up in Warwickshire UK, broke through as the first South Asian artist to have a successful Asian-fusion music career paving the way for future fusion artists including Apache Indian, Bally Sagoo and Rishi Rich.
He stormed the UK popcharts in 1991 with his debut album Hit The Deck which stayed at the top of the British pop charts for a record-setting 34 weeks. Cementing his position as the one to watch when it comes to what was seemed at the time as a futuristic take on merging Asian beats with mainstream music.
Brit Asians quickly became fanatics taking in every seductive fused beat after another with Saini’s ability to not only meld East and West tones together but also add layers to it with reggae beats, which lead to his landmark collaboration with Kendell Smith aka DJK on the album Spirits of Rhythm in 1994.
Check out Spirits of Rhythm here on Spotify.
With Spirits of Rhythm and the follow-up album New Dawn Saini the Saini/Kendall collab was the foundation from whic Stereo Nation was built. Thereby changing the fusion music world forever. Signed with EMI Premier UK, they launched themselves into the mainstream Brit music scene with their single “I’ve Been Waiting” charting Asian and mainstream music charts.
With global tours, a rabid fanbase across Asia and the UK, Stereo Nation epitomized the ’90s underground dance fusion scene.
Through the 2000s Saini continued to work with various artists, including working with major Indian record labels and scoring memorable songs for some Bollywood films including for Hritik Roshan in Koi Milgaya and Tum Bin.
Check out some of his memorable beats below:
The Asian and global music world will miss this icon and forever will recognize his immense barrier-breaking contribution to the global Asian music scene which has become alot more embedded in mainstream culture and this all thanks Tarsame Singh Saini and Stereo Nation.
Main Image Photo Credit: www.wikepedia.com
Hina P. Ansari
Author
Hina P. Ansari is a graduate from The University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario). Since then she has carved a successful career in Canada's national fashion-publishing world as the Entertainment/Photo Editor at FLARE Magazine, Canada's national fashion magazine. She was the first South Asian in...